Posted!

Join the Conversation

Russia says some troops off Ukraine border

Olga Rudenko, Special for USA TODAY
3:01 p.m. CDT March 31, 2014

A man stands near a trainload of modified T-72 Russian tanks after their arrival in Gvardeyskoe railway station near the Crimean capital Simferopol, on Monday. The Crimean crisis has sparked the most explosive East-West confrontation since the Cold War and fanned fears in Kiev that Russian President Vladimir Putin now intends to push his troops into southeast Ukraine.(Photo: OLGA MALTSEVA AFP/Getty Images)

KIEV, Ukraine - Russia said Monday it withdrew an infantry battalion from the border with Ukraine as its prime minister visited Crimea to promise money for power supplies, water lines and education.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Monday phone call that some troops were being withdrawn from the Ukraine border, Merkel's office said.

Ukraine welcomed the move.

"The situation on our eastern borders has stabilized," Defense Ministry Gen. Maj. Oleksandr Rozmaznin said. "The number of troops decreased. Now (the situation) has calmed."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said if troops had withdrawn, "that would be a god thing." However, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said "tens of thousands" of Russian forces still remained along the Ukrainian border, a situation he called "a tremendous buildup."

Analysts say the crisis is far from over.

"I think he (Putin) is trying to show that the threat of an imminent invasion of Ukraine is reduced," said William Pomeranz, deputy director of the Washington D.C-based Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center.

"At the same time the situation remains very volatile and one still fears that any sort of intentional or unintentional action could trigger a stronger response from Russia. There is nothing to suggest that this is the end of the crisis," Pomeranz said.

Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis said a removal of troops means little. He said Russia did not tell Kiev where the removals occurred.

"Some troops withdraw. Others come (to the border)," he said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev led a delegation of Russian ministers on a surprise visit to Crimea and pledged that Russia will quickly boost salaries and pensions there and pour in resources to improve education, health care and local infrastructure.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted a photo of himself upon arrival with the words "Crimea is ours, and that's that."

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March after a hastily called referendum held just two weeks after Russian forces had taken control the Black Sea region. Pro-Moscow Crimeans said that Moscow had vowed to shower Crimea with money should it secede.

Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote because it is unconstitutional and appear to have been rigged in favor of the pro-Moscow forces.

Some here fear that Russia may also try to invade eastern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians reside, but Moscow has denied it even as it builds up forces on the border.

"Of course it's good that they backed off, but how do we know they will not come back?" said Alina Nechiporenko, who lives in Kharkiv, a city close to the Russian border.

"Moscow is still aggressive towards Ukraine, and I don't really feel safe even with less Russian troops on the border," she said.

Others were glad to hear of the withdrawal.

"The fact that they moved back is soothing. But now all the future developments depend on one person only: Vladimir Putin. And he is unpredictable," said 21-year-old Maria Prokopenko, who lives in the eastern city of Donetsk.

"This weekend was expected to be crucial. The fact that it was calm is reassuring, but it's still too early to relax," she added.

Some analysts said the threat of further military intervention from Russia had at least decreased with the withdrawal of some troops.

"This does mean that we can grab our coats and go home," said Dmytro Tymchuk, military expert, head of Kiev-based Center for Military and Political Studies. "But the probability of invasion is still somewhat reduced. If a week ago we assessed the probability of Russia's invasion at 80%, then now it is somewhere at 50% and that pleases."